• Medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, short-term disability, supplemental insurance, 401(k) plan, pension plan, etc… With all of these, you will not be able to negotiate price; most of the time. Reason being, the company has a set price from the insurance provider and that is what they have to pay. You can, however, negotiate whether you want this included or not as part of your offer. By saying no to their medical plan, you could be saving them upwards of $1,000 a month (depending on the plans you were deciding to choose). That is money that you can negotiate towards your salary. With a 401(k) and pension plan, again, you can opt not to join the plan and ask for that money to be included in your salary or the flip side, you ask for a higher contribution rate. Negotiating takes creativity and patience. Once again, every employer is different and you want to be careful not to push the envelope. Benefits are a touchy subject, but can yield you some serious $$$.

• Cell phone – The majority of today’s companies want you connected to work 24/7. Because of that, they are willing to subsidize or pay for your cell phone. There are two way you can look at this;

1. 1. Tell them you do not want to be connected and you would like that money added to your salary or,
   2. If they do offer a cell phone policy, ask that they pay for your cell phone.

Let’s start with the first. While most companies want you connected to their network at all times, that does not mean you have to be. You could connect your laptop at home to their server so when you go home, you are still working. Since most companies want to show that they offer flexibility and a work/life balance, they may concede you having a cell phone and give you money instead. On the other hand, some companies have no cell phone policy at all and it’s up to you to negotiate. Your case will be that being connected to the server 24/7 will allow you better access to your customer or clients thus allowing for increased customer service. In today’s economy, the #1 driver of business is excellent customer service. By you giving a solution to that problem, the company might be willing to pay for your entire cell phone bill. Depending on your phone, that could be $100 a month!

• Tuition reimbursement – All employers want a highly educated work force, but also a highly educated work force that will stay with them for many years to come. There are two scenarios here; companies that do pay tuition reimbursement and companies that do not. Lets start with the first. Companies who do offer tuition reimbursement are great, but there is always a catch; they just are not going to give you the money for free. They will either giving an insignificant amount or make you sign an agreement saying you will stay with the company for “X” years or else you owe the money back. For a company who offers no reimbursement our goal is to get any amount of money because it will be more than you had before right? Your negotiation point then becomes asking them to contribute towards your tuition, at an accredited university, in exchange for “X” amount of years/months of service. For a company that already pays reimbursement, you can negotiate the amount and the terms of the contract. It is advantageous to do so for both; you want a higher amount of money paid for less amount of service. Once again, tread lightly here, you don’t want the company to think you will get your MBA and then leave and that should never be your intentions in the first place. Every reimbursement is different, some companies offer great money, but on bad terms and others vice versa. It is sometimes better to pick one area and negotiate just that. Either asking for a higher reimbursement or for less time.

• Vacation and sick time – Every company offers something different; some offer vacation and sick time others will lump it into PTO (Paid Time Off). Lets start with the first. Depending on where you are in your career, your vacation time will vary; could be 5 days, might be 20 days. As with sick time, most companies will offer unlimited sick time, but other may cap you at 10 days. Negotiating either can be tricky as you cannot just say, “I want more vacation”. They will think you just want to be home instead of making money at work. This will depend on your prior positions. If your previous company offered more than what you are being offered, you can definitely tell them you want what you had to be matched. Again, depending on your seniority, they will match you or meet you half way. Say you have no prior positions, then you can ask that you take some days from your left pocket and put it your right pocket; swapping sick for vacation. Another negotiating point if they refuse to budge could be keeping their plan, but asking that they pay out what you do not use at the end of the year. Now to my second point, what is PTO? Paid time off is the new trend that most companies are moving too. It takes everything and puts it into one bank; Sick, vacation, and general time off. This allows you, the employee, the flexibility to not tell your employer why you are taking off, you simply state, “I am taking PTO”. There is less liability to the company and increased flexibility to the employee. Since there are no designations towards any particular type of time off what you negotiate then are total amount of days. Most will start with 10-15 days total. You can negotiate by going off of your prior positions and using them as a base point. Once again, if they do not budge, ask that they pay you out on all days you don’t use at the end of the year.

• Bonus – Bonuses come in all shapes and sizes. There are year-end bonuses, spot bonuses, sign-on bonuses and guaranteed bonuses. All of these are negotiable, but they depend on the timing. Spot bonuses are not negotiable as they are given to you when you are on the job. A spot bonus is when an employer feels you have gone above and beyond the job responsibilities and you are deserving of an award at any random time of the year. The other three are the ones we are concerned with. The year-end bonus amount is not negotiable, but receiving one is. If the position already comes with a year-end bonus, there is not much you can negotiate, as it will be predicated on your performance. When the position does not have one, you can ask for it to be included. You do not ask for a certain number, as you do not want to insult the employer, but rather stating, if my performance was better than expected then I would like to receive a year-end bonus. Now you must make sure that this verbiage is added to your offer so at year-end you have a legal document to stand on. Second, there are sign-on bonuses. Sometimes employers may not be able to match your salary, you might simply be overpaid for your skill set. That’s okay! If a company says no to your salary expectations, you simply ask them to take the difference and translate that into a sign-on bonus. They are very common in today’s world, as the company wants to show you that they are making a commitment to you just as you are to them. Lastly, there is a guaranteed bonus. This means, no matter what, by “X” date you will pay me a bonus. These are usually only reserved for highly sought after employees who will add tremendous value to the company. That does not mean it’s not you, it means, let the company decide whether they will give you a year-end bonus, a sign-on or make it guaranteed.